Top Ten Tuesday is an original weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. I thought this would be a fun way to share a condensed version of potential rambles and thoughts that I have.

This Week’s Theme:Top Ten All Time Favourite
Science Fiction Books

Initial Thoughts:

My scope going into this week’s theme focuses on “the then, the now, and the future” for standout science-fiction and speculative fiction novels that hold value in being a memorable read during differing phases of growing up. With this in mind, consideration is not emphasized purely by the most entertaining or the best written. Instead, I look towards books that have made an impact in my reading career.

Business as usual: covers re-link to the respective Goodreads page.

The Then:

Include sentimental narratives that have opened up my perception of science-fiction novels during them teenage days. Do note that I wasn’t extremely hypercritical and perceptive when I first read these novels at…sixteen or something. So if I reread them (now), it’ll probably be a completely different experience.

Like this:

Music Monday is a weekly meme hosted by the Total Book Geek. The purpose of this bookish variant is to match a book with a particular song; whether it is character defining, a narrative element, or just an overall book defining track.

So why am I doing this? Well if I had to choose to only have one of the five traditional senses, it would be sound perception above all else. And hey I think it’d be neat to share music I listen to on a daily basis!

This Week’s Song:Pentatonix – Say Something (Original by A Great Big World feat. Christina Aguilera)

Book Selected:Dublin in the Rain – Andrew Critchley

Initial Thoughts:

A stellar novel requires an equally stellar track pairing, right?

I’m pretty sure this song can be used for many romance-oriented novels but I found this particular cover to be a striking example of the core relationships and the engaged contemporary issues in Andrew Critchley’s Dublin in the Rain. With Kirstie taking forefront in this cover, it’s quite the homage to J.P’s mother and Sophia in the delivery of the song to drive the meaning and allowing the perspectives to resonate.

If you’re interested in learning more about Critchley’s Dublin in the Rain, you can read about my review here.Or you can click on the book cover to be redirected to Goodreads.

There is just so much ear candy in this cover of Say Something that lends itself to the lyrics as it relates to the pivotal stages in Jonathan Paul Melton’s (J.P.) life: as a child and as an adult. In both stages of life, there’s a nod to the parallelism and redemption drawn by the generation gap and the eventual fates of what would be the song’s general meaning. As a child, the playback would occur from his mother’s perspective toward Jonathan’s father – ultimately leading to divorce as the marriage was unsalvageable. In his adulthood, it’s the unexpected death of his and Sophia’s child that begins this song from her eyes as she falters in loving him as he grieves. But Jonathan is not his father. With the theme of redemption, J.P., who was once taking two steps forward and one step back, gains insight from self-reflection and proceeds with the once unimaginable: he says something. Haaaaaa, I’m so cheesy.

Afterthoughts:

Pentaholic? Indeed – since their debut on The Sing Off!Feeling all the feels. All of it.

To be honest, I wouldn’t have imagined this cover to being a nice match for this book if it wasn’t Kirstie being the predominant lead. I mean, the song is nice in itself but the choice wouldn’t have been as compelling otherwise. Just my two cents (which is rather biased, derp.)

Think Aloudexplores book-related discussions encompassing reading, writing, blogging, and perhaps newsworthy content. The focus is to push the boundaries, stretch the mind, and encourage dialogue within this community. Let’s all think out loud.

Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post.

Table Topic:Spritz Smartphone Reading App

Abstract:

I came across this interesting article yesterday on I Fucking Love Science! [IFLS] about this upcoming smartphone app that significantly hastens reading by optimizing the time it takes to read and understand a word. The thought-train behind this technology analyses and identifies the optimal recognition point (or a focal point) of every word and streams the text in alignment to the ORP so that words can be recognized quickly without strenuous ocular movement. By utilising this method in reading, books which would otherwise take several hours to days to complete can be easily read in a few hours depending on the words per minute (WPM) speed selected. The default speed is 250 WPM and increases by increments of 50, up to 1000.